The present invention is related to apparatus for forming cartons and more particularly to such devices utilized to insert a plug pad into the recess formed between opposed end flaps of a semi-rigid folded carton.
It is often desirable in the packing industry to utilize a form of carton that includes a flat floor surface. Known forms of cartons include folded bottom flaps that touch along their outward edges so as to form a continuous flat surface along the carton bottom. Such cartons are, however, expensive to purchase.
A less expensive form of carton utilizes folded flaps wherein the edges do not touch but instead leave a slight recess in the otherwise planar bottom surface. It is perferable to have the shortened flaps on the inside of such cartons to avoid catching exposed edges. Such cartons are considerably less expensive than those having longer flaps. It has, therefore, become desirable to provide some mechanism for inserting a filler or plug pad into that recess in order that the carton bottom be planar between the upright side walls.
The present invention was designed to automatically place a plug pad into a recess between bottom flaps of a carton while the carton itself is being formed or subsequent to carton formation. This is accomplished by providing a magazine for receiving a stack of plug pads, a stripping mechanism for moving single pads laterally of the stack and inserting them into a mandrel at a mandrel loading station. By moving the individual pads and mandrel into the open end of a carton, the plug pad is pressed into the complementary recess in the bottom of the carton.
I have found it to be more economical to provide an apparatus to place plug pads between shortened carton flaps rather than to simply purchase cartons that include flaps that may be folded to obtain a planar carton bottom. Furthermore such an apparatus may be mounted downstream from a carton former or can be incorporated into existing carton forming machines without decreasing the efficiency of the machine or requiring substantial modifications thereof.